The Wild Horse and Burro Prize Challenge

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is exploring the possibility of running an open-innovation prize-based competition, or Prize Challenge, as part of its efforts to improve the management of wild horses and burros on public rangelands. The competition will aim to find innovative solutions to this important and complex issue. The BLM is currently in the design phase of the project; formulating the requirements, parameters, and scope of the potential challenge question(s).

Prize-based challenges have an established track record of spurring innovation in the private, public, and philanthropic sectors. With a focus on proven results, prizes empower untapped talent to deliver unexpected solutions to tough problems because prizes often attract solvers from a variety of adjacent disciplines, increasing the chance for new ideas to be found. By adapting the prize model to solve the challenges facing management of wild horses and burros, the BLM is searching for innovative, out-of-the-box ideas that can offer solutions which support healthy animals on healthy rangelands.

Wild Horse Prize Workshop

On May 29, 2014 the BLM hosted stakeholders and other experts at a workshop in Washington, D.C. Through a series of exercises and discussions over the course of the day, workshop participants explored the obstacles and pathways to innovation in the management of wild horses and burros. Below are materials related to this workshop.